Kaiser Coal Company
This page was last updated on December 10, 2011.
Additional Sources
- Sunnyside mine — Information about the Sunnyside coal mine prior to being purchased by Kaiser Steel
- Kaiser Unit Coal Trains
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In 1943 Henry J. Kaiser leased Sunnyside No. 2 mine from Utah Fuel Company, to furnish coking coal for new steel mill at Fontana, California. The mine had been closed since 1921 because of a fire. After extinguishing the fire, the mine was closed due to low market demand for coal. (Gibson: Kaiser, p. 261)
At their peak of operation, there were over 800 beehive coke ovens at Sunnyside. Coal that makes good coke doesn't necessarily make good domestic fuel, the carbon content and moisture content being different. In 1948 there wasn't much demand for Sunnyside coking coal, with the output of the Sunnyside No. 1 mine mostly going to the D&RGW railroad for use in their locomotives, and being used as fuel for industrial purposes. The market for coking coal had been taken over by the steel companies which were making coke in by-product ovens, using coal from their own coal mines. (Gibson: Sunnyside, pp. 207,208)
In the early 1940s Kaiser began the operation of 297 beehive coke ovens at Sunnyside. The ovens were operated continuously until 1958, when Kaiser closed them down. In 1942 Kaiser leased a portion of the Sunnyside mine from Utah Fuel. In 1950 Kaiser bought Utah Fuel, and operated the properties at Sunnyside, Clear Creek and Castle Gate as the Utah Fuel Division of Kaiser Steel. Kaiser later sold the Castle Gate and Clear Creek operations to Independent Coal & Coke, which later sold both operations to North American Coal Company. North American later sold the Castle Gate property to McCulloch Oil Company, and the Clear Creek property to Valley Camp Coal Company. (Sun Advocate & Helper Journal, Special Edition, January 2, 1975, p. 5)
Utah Fuel Company, incorporated on April 17, 1901, became the Book Cliffs Coal Corporation on March 5, 1951. (Utah corporation, index number 3111)
Utah Fuel Company was merged with Book Cliffs Coal Corporation, a Kaiser subsidiary, on December 5, 1950. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 15-D, p. 4)
Book Cliffs Coal Corporation was merged with Kaiser Steel Corporation on February 23, 1951. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 15-D, p. 59)
Kaiser owned the Somerset Mine in Colorado briefly in the mid-1950s, but determined rather quickly that Somerset coal was inferior to what it was producing from Sunnyside. The Somerset mine was located in Colorado's North Fork Valley, 38 miles northeast of Delta. One of the managers of Kaiser's Somerset mine bought Somerset in the name of Minerals Development Corporation of Colorado. Minerals Development sold the mine to U.S. Steel in 1960; USS took over January 1, 1961. After selling to MDC, Kaiser did not buy coal from the Somerset mine. (Bruce Collins via email dated November 14, 2007)
Kaiser operated a steel mill in California and coal mines in Utah and New Mexico. Its mines produced only high-volatile coal, so it had to purchase mid-volatile coal used in steel manufacturing from another producer. Since 1959, Kaiser has purchased virtually all of its mid-volatile coal requirements from Mid-Continent Coal and Coke Company's mine at Redstone, Colorado. (http://supreme.justia.com/us/455/72/case.html)
After 1956 Mid-Continent operated the Dutch Creek coal mines above Redstone, the same location as Colorado Fuel & Iron's Coal Basin mine on the Crystal River narrow gauge, from 1956 to 1991, and loaded it on the D&RGW east of Carbondale, on the Aspen Branch. (Bruce Collins via email dated May 8, 2001)
Kaiser Steel was the operator of a coal mine in Raton, New Mexico, known as the York Canyon No. 1 Mine. The York Canyon mine annually produced between 576,000 and 738,000 tons of coal and 350-450 employees are engaged in all of Kaiser's York Canyon mines. (http://www.fmshrc.gov/decisions/alj/80051220.PDF)
The western USA contains significant coal reserves in seams 10 feet or more in thickness which lie too deep for surface mining. As part of a demonstration of the use of two legged shield supports in the United States, Kaiser Steel Corporation, under contract to the US government used the longwall method to mine a ten foot thick coal seam in New Mexico. (Longwall-Shortwall Mining, State of the Art, ISBN 0-89520-288-3, 1981)
On October 17, 1960 Book Cliffs Coal Company was sold to Mineral Development Company, a subsidiary of Heiner Coal Company, of Salt Lake City, Utah. Included in the sale was mine equipment, coal contracts, and 320 acres of coal lands in Emery County, along with half interest in 2,400 acres of non-coking coal lands in the so-called "East Carbon District", near Dragerton. At the same time, Minerals Development also announced the purchase of the other half interest in those same 2,400 acres, from Malcolm N. McKinnon. The sale and liquidation of the Book Cliffs property followed the death in May 1960 of E. S. O'Conner, former president and general manager of Book Cliffs. Book Cliffs' production was about 75,000 tons per year. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 18, 1960) The sale was announced by R. G. Heers, Fontana, Calif., president of Book Cliffs (also manager of raw materials for Kaiser Steel at Fontana). Mineral Development estimated combined coal reserves on the lands at about 25 million tons. It was a non-coking, bituminous deposit. (Coal Age, Volume 65, number 11, November 1960, p. 50, "News Roundup")
To provide better roof control and to stabilize obsolete entries and worked out pillar areas against bounces, and to seal and fill isolated or possible fire areas, in December 1957 Kaiser began installing yieldable steel arches in motor roads, hoistways, manways, and aircources. The arches were backfilled with washery refuse (sand) that was hydraulically transported and placed. Originally, "coke breeze" was used for backfill material, until equipment to handle and reduce the washery refuse could be installed. By August 1961 over 18 miles of tunnels had been completed and over 350,000 tons of fill material had been placed. Where backfilling had been completed there had been no bounces. These same areas formerly had been subject to numerous and violent bounces. (Coal Age, Volume 66, number 8, August 1961, p. 93, "Yeilding Supports")
Controlling interest in Heiner Coal Company was sold to Island Creek Coal Company, of Huntington, West Virginia, on April 29, 1965. Island Creek was the nation's largest producer of coal. Its 1964 tonnage exceeded 21 million tons. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 30, 1965)
(More research is needed concerning the relationship between Kaiser Steel, Heiner Coal Company, Mineral Development Company, Book Cliffs Coal Company, and Book Cliffs Coal Corporation.)
On June 17, 1969 the new high capacity loading facility at Sunnyside was dedicated by the presidents of Kaiser Steel Corporation, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, and AT&SF Railway, along with Utah Governor Calvin L. Rampton. The new facility, said to have cost Kaiser Steel $1.2 million, was used to load a 8,400 ton Coal Liner unit train every four days. The service began late in 1968 using leased cars. The dedication was held in June 1969 with the delivery of the new gondola Coal Liner cars. (Deseret News, June 13, 1969)
Kaiser Steel Company had shipped metallurgical coal for Japan's steel industry from its Sunnyside mine from April 1971 until March 1972. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 8, 1980)
The last coal was shipped from the Sunnyside (Utah) and Redstone (Colorado) mines when the Kaiser closed its Fontana coke plant in late 1982.
In September 1982, there was a note in the New York Times stating that Kaiser would close its coke plant “by the end of 1982.” The news item went on to say that Kaiser would continue making steel at Fontana by using its stockpile of coke. (New York Times, September 18, 1982)
In December 1983, the Fontana Works was closed. Early the next year, two investor groups bought Kaiser Steel for $374.4 million. Later, the investors sold the most modern section of the plant for more than $110 million to California Steel Industries, a partnership of local, Brazilian and Japanese interests. (Los Angeles Times, August 4, 1985)
On November 11, 1984, Kaiser Steel Corporation purchased the nearby Horse Canyon mine from U.S. Steel, and indicated that it would maintain the operations in a temporary suspension status pending further corporate decisions as to the future use of the facilities. Following Kaiser Coal's bankruptcy in February 1987, on April 5, 1990 Kaiser Coal sold the Horse Canyon mine to Intermountain Power Agency (IPA). During 1990 and 1991, IPA reclaimed the majority of the surface disturbance leaving only a main facilities pad with buildings essential for future mine operations. In September 2000, UtahAmerican Energy, Inc. acquired the Horse Canyon Mine from IPA. (http://linux1.ogm.utah.gov/WebStuff/wwwroot/coal/minedetail.php?C0070013) (link)
Kaiser Coal Corporation was a subsidiary of the larger Kaiser Steel Corporation, having been separated from the interests of Kaiser Steel Corporation in (??). In September 1985 when the federal Mine Health and Safety Administration changed its requirements for ventilation of mines using long wall mining methods, Kaiser Coal was mining from Sunnyside No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3.
On February 12, 1987, Kaiser Steel filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which allows a company to continue operating while it works out a plan to pay its creditors. Kaiser Steel sold much of the company, including its steel business. It was anticipated that the company's coal operations would become the property of the secured creditors following the reorganization. Included in the bankruptcy were Kaiser's coal properties: Kaiser Coal Corp., Kaiser Coal Corp. of New Mexico, Kaiser Coal Corp. of York Canyon, Kaiser Coal Corp. of Utah and Kaiser Coal Corp. of Sunnyside. (Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1987; February 14, 1987; June 14, 1988)
On April 21, 1988, Kaiser Coal Corporation closed its Sunnyside No. 1 and No. 2 mines at Sunnyside, Utah, idling 189 miners and 33 salaried workers. Twelve salaried workers were retained. Kaiser Coal was bankrupt at the time, and asked the bankruptcy court for permission to lease the mines to Sunnyside Reclamation and Salvage to allow that company to mine the remaining one million tons of coal reserves still in the mines. Mellon Bank owned the longwall mining machine in the No. 1 mine, which had been leased to Kaiser Coal, and the bank been trying to repossess the machine since July 1988 and sell it to another coal company. Mellon had been paying the maintenance costs of the mine, about $150,000 per month ($15,000.00 per month seems to be a more accurate figure), which was necessary to keep water pumped out of the mine, which would damage the mining machine. Most of the costs were electricity for the pumps. On November 25, 1988, Mellon "walked away from the situation", after Utah Power & Light agreed to keep the pumps running, at least until a buyer could be found for the mine, on or about December 7, 1988. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 6, 1988, p.C1)
Coal was shipped by train from the Sunnyside mine as late as October 1990. (photo at RailPictures.net, dated October 2, 1990)
The last train operated between Columbia Junction and the Kaiser loadout at Sunnyside in 1991. (email from James Belmont, May 27, 2003)
At some time after 1988 and before 1992, Kaiser Coal Corporation was reorganized as Sunnyside Coal Company.
(The organization of Kaiser Coal Corporation may have been to spin off the coal resources from the steel resources upon Kaiser Steel's bankruptcy in 1987, and may have come by renaming the previous Sunnyside Reclamation and Salvage, which took over ownership of the Sunnyside mine property in March 1989 as a result of the Kaiser bankruptcy.)
In 1993 the Sunnyside Power Company, located in the town of East Carbon, was constructed to make use of the waste coal that had accumulated over the years of operation of the Sunnyside mine, and the Hiawatha and Wattis mines, as they were being reclaimed after mining operations were closed. The plant burns about 500,000 tons of waste coal each year and has a capacity of 58 megawatts. (http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/energy/coal/coaltour/powerplants/sunnyside.htm) (link); (http://www.airquality.utah.gov/Permits/DOCS/10096pmt.20100519.pdf) (link); (http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/energy/coal/pdf/coalrpt1998.pdf) (link)
Kaiser Coal still existed at the time of a settlement between Kaiser Coal and the United Mine Workers retirement fund in December 1994.
The Sunnyside mine consisted of approximately 14,385 acres, of which 2,022 were leased federal coal lands. The Sunnyside mine was the first coal mine in the United States to use the longwall method of coal mining. The mine closed in 1994 due to filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Kaiser Coal Corporation and Kaiser's reclamation bond was forfeited by the U. S. Bankruptcy Court to the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining. Reclamtion was completed in 1999. (http://linux1.ogm.utah.gov/WebStuff/wwwroot/coal/minedetail.php?C0070007) (link)
Sunnyside Coal Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 25, 1994 to reorganize its company. In 1995, the Chapter 11 bankruptcy was converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to terminate Sunnyside Coal's existance, settle all claims, and liquidate all assets. The March 1994 bankruptcy came as a result of Sunnyside's coal supply contract with Geneva Steel that was not renewed by Geneva Steel. Part of the bankruptcy settlement included transfer of funds for the reclamation of the Sunnyside mine property at the mouth of Whitmore Canyon. The funds transfer took place in January 1997 and reclamtion work began in July 1997, with final completion in October 2000, at a final cost of $2 million. (Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Awards, Utah, 2001)
Kaiser Steel History
Kaiser Steel Corp.'s former plant occupies about 2,000 acres in Fontana, San Bernardino County, California. The plant operated from 1942 through late 1983. The plant consisted of three main units: a primary production unit, a rolling mill, and two slag disposal areas covering approximately one square mile.
California Steel Industries, Inc., purchased the rolling mill from Kaiser in August 1984. Cuyahoga Wrecking Corp. purchased the coke plant and blast furnaces in the primary production unit for salvage and began dismantling them in 1985.
In February 1987, Kaiser filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Federal bankruptcy code. Kaiser emerged from bankruptcy in September 1988, retaining the Kaiser Steel Corporation name.
Reorganized as Kaiser Steel Resources, Inc. in October 1990; name changed to Kaiser Resources, Inc. in June 1993; name changed to Kaiser Ventures LLC in June 1995.
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